Innovation and Continuous Improvement for Operational System

Question: Dicsuss about theInnovation and Continuous Improvement for Operational System. Answer: Review performance and sustainability Describing key systems and processes of AC Gilbert Supply chain- The supply chain process used in AC Gilbert is a quality and solidly crafted materials that helped the company to remain popular in the market. The sales team take order from the customers; arrange delivery of materials to the customers with the help of retailers. Operational system- The operational system of AC Gilbert was a systematic approach to designing, planning, purchasing, manufacturing and distribution. The focus was on manufacturing educational toys for children and long-lasting toys for the children. Product/service delivery- The products of AC Gilbert were sold directly to the end users. The sales team received orders from the customers and arrange direct delivery of products to the customers by using transportation medium. Analysing three key systems and process After analysing the key systems and processes it can be seen that the managers of AC Gilbert focus more on interacting with the customers directly. This helped the company to understand the demands and needs of the customers. The new manager of the company developed 50 new toy lines and spends more on packaging the materials. According to Parmenter (2015), one of the main ways to improve the performance of an employee is to analyse and evaluate the performance using performance appraisal methods. Service level agreement between the customers is made directly hence, terms and conditions made with the customers represent the value of the company. Describing ways to monitor performance In order to maintain the performance of the company, it was imperative that AC Gilbert maintained and analysed the profits made per year. From the report it has been seen that the company suffered huge loss in the last few years of its existence (Tibballs, 1999). In this regard, it can be said that the use of benchmarking could have helped the company to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals such as Lego and Mattel. The review strategy that could have been used by the management is the 360 degree appraisal technique. This is effective in order to get the feedback of every employee in the organisation. Analysing variances from plans and targets of the KRAs From the report, it has been seen that up till 1966, the company had witnessed various changes in the activities that are essential for the success of a company. For example, changes in promotional activities helped the company to reach out to its customers. Despite this the sales of the company fell due to lack of ability to meet the expectations of the customers. The change in management saw the loss of many top level managers. The profit fluctuated and every year, the company began to suffer loss (Tibballs, 1999). These situations led to the shutting down of the company in 1967. Discussing trends relevant to the organisation According to Chen Chan (2014), trends in business are important in order to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. In the case of AC Gilbert, prior to 1960, the company had been able to innovate the quality of toys that it manufactured. The reputation of the company was not enough to earn them profits. This resulted in the falling standards of the company. However, the appointment of a new manager also changed the fortunes of the company. The opportunist business decisions made by Jack Wrather helped the company to remain stable in the market. Discussing possible use of advice from specialists Martin, Schiuma Healy (2014) stated that consultation with the internal as well as the external stakeholders can help a company make the right decisions. The specialists that were on board with the working of AC Gilbert could have advised the company to cut down the cost of the prices of the product. This could have helped the company to remain competitive in the market. Consultation with marketing and advertising consultants was also required. Costs incurred from promoting the company using television could have been cut down had the company promoted its product by other sources such as newspaper. Develop options for continuous improvement Developing performance improvement strategy In order to improve the performance of the employees of AC Gilbert in the modern world, it is necessary to delegate tasks to the employees based on the skills. Job satisfaction of the employees is important in order to maintain the efficiency of the workers (Hastings, 2010). Apart from this training and development of employees can increase the skill of the employees. The development of a proper communication model can help the employees and managers maintain communication with one another. Such strategies can be incorporated with the team members along with the managers by conducting meetings. Preparing minute management team briefing The management team can be briefed on the performance improvement strategies. This can be done by conducting a meeting in which the advantages and disadvantages of the strategies can be discussed. Some of the advantages of the strategies include providing employees with the task that suits their ability. This can help in meeting the goals of the organisation (Modarres, Kaminskiy Krivtsov, 2016). Communication can help in discussing every event and decisions that are taken in the organisation. However, on the downside, training and development of employees require time and money. This can prove a loss for the company. Hence, improvement in this department can be applied by providing on-job training. Lead sessions After analysing the possible performance improvement strategies, further options can be discussed with team members. These options need to come from gathering suggestions from the group and create ideas that are unique. For example, the implication of communication method can be done with the help of emails. This can help the employees, as well as the managers, maintain records in the organisation. However, there may be issues with the application of all the strategies. The training and development of the employees require the company to have good finances. Summarising results of the session After the end of the session, it was seen that the groups were divided into segments. One group were in favour of the changes that needed to be made in the organisation. According to Montibeller Winterfeldt (2015), changes in an organisation help in its improvement. Thus, encouraging the employees to change its method of productivity can help in improving the organisation. However, other groups were of the opinion that the traditional method of approaching organisational success is more effective than incorporating the improvement strategies. The manager of the company needs to provide approval for amending the strategy related to training and development. Hence, due to the varied decision provided by the team, the incorporation of the strategies is necessary. Incorporating results of session Korschun Swain (2014) stated that incorporating the results of the session can help AC Gilbert improve the method of performance in the organisation. The only change that was made by the group was to disallow the training of the employees. The training and development of the employees can be done while teaching them the art to manufacture toys and provide the best quality of packaging the products. The incorporation of this method can help the employees gain a first-hand experience of the job. The expectations from the employees can be improved and it can also help in enhancing the skills. However, it is also important for the managers to develop a risk analysis strategy in order to mitigate unseen errors. Developing risk analysis strategy Analysing the possibilities of risk in an organisation is important for every manager to consider (Aven, 2015). This is mainly because of the fact that the risk analysis can help in mitigating any disaster in a company. In the case of AC Gilbert, the risk analysis can be in the form of finance and stability of the employees. The financial stability needs to be such the mangers does not invest in extra production and advertising of the products. In return, it is necessary to focus on ways to motivate the employees by providing monetary and non-monetary incentives for the work done. This can help to retain employees in the organisation. Developing cost-benefit analysis strategy Keeping in mind the possibility of risk that can befall the company in terms of financial stability, it is necessary to develop the cost-effective strategy. Cost-effective strategy helps in marketing a company in terms of providing the cheapest goods and services (Nas, 2016). In the case of AC Gilbert, the company can minimise the cost that is incurred due to excess wastage of materials. These costs can be used for the betterment of the society as well as the organisation. Implement innovative processes Examining process to be implemented According to Mishan (2015), the changes incorporated in an organisation need to be implemented in order to analyse the results. In the case of AC Gilbert, the goal of the production manager is to increase productivity with minimum wastage. They also aim to improve the sustainability of the product by reducing the errors in the production line. The projected cost for the implementation of these strategies is over $2 million. In this regard, the benefits of the implementation of the production line are the faster completion of work. Developing action plans Activities Objectives Measures (KPI) Timeframes Promotional activities Reduce negative impact Implementing changes by motivating employees To improve the efficiency of the employees Identification of success can be done by monitoring the performance daily 2-3 weeks Promotion can be done proving knowledge to the employees regarding the benefits of change The negative impact can be reduced by following systematic change Table 1: Transition (Source: Created by author) Activities Objectives Measures (KPI) Timeframes Promotional activities Reduce negative impact Implement modern communicating devices To improve the relationship between employee and employer Success can be identified by allowing employees make direct communication to the managers 1 week Demonstration regarding meetings can be made about the benefits of communication Proper technical expertise is required to reduce negative impact Table 2: Communication (Source: Created by author) Developing two contingency plans Contingency plans include a backup plan in case the primary strategy of the managers fail in certain ways (Drucker, 2017). In the case of AC Gilbert, the contingency plans include the application of change management theory and providing a benchmark in order to promote the work of other organisations. Examining implementation issues and failures The implementation of the new plans may develop certain issues. These issues include lack of sufficient training of the employees. The new machines that were installed were complicated and as a result longer shifts were required to make them understand the new product. The failure caused due to the implementation of the new process can have a negative impact on the employees. The health of the employees is jeopardised due to unstable working hours. This violates the laws set in the OHS standard (Coates, 2014). Amending action plans and contingency plans In order to address the failures of the implementation, it is necessary that the action plan and the contingency plan need to be changed. The changes applied in these plans include the motivation of the employees. After bringing about major changes in the organisation, it is necessary to motivate the employees, in terms of accepting the changes. It has been seen that due to lack of training, employees are incapable of using the machines. Hence, according to Fayol (2016), training of the employees is a contingency plan that needs to be implemented. Developing a schedule for evaluation Evaluation of the changes and continuous improvement can be done after monitoring the performance every week. This includes the activities that are repeated continuously by the employees. These activities include proper learning of the skills of the employees. The skill and development of the employees need to be incorporated into the learning activities that may help the organisation to be more productivity. In order to analyse the improvement, evaluation needs to be done after every week. Reference Aven, T. (2015).Risk analysis. John Wiley Sons. Chen, A. P., Chan, A. P. (2014). 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